Explosive bomb.



T. COOPER. ExPLoslvE 80MB.

APPLtCATlON FILED DEC. 30. 1916. A

" Patented June 5, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

www

T. cooPEn.

A EXPLOSIVE BOMB. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 30.' 19H5.

` 2 SHEETS-SHEETZ.

Ill

r m f ..52 o

uns runs. um.. mm. umm-m. n. n.

Patented J une 5, 1917-.

rH'oMAs cooriin, or KINGS LYNN, ENGLAND.

EXPLOSIVE BOIVIB.

To all @kom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TriouAs COOPER, a

subject of the King of Great Britain, and

resident of The South House, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, England, engineer, have invented new and useful Improvements in Explosive Bombs, of which the following is a specifica-tion.

The present invention has reference more particularly to explosive bombs intended to be discharged from aircraft on to-other-aircraft andv to be exploded by impact with the latter.

One of the objects of my invention is to render such explosive bombs more safe against accidental explosion which is liable to result from shocks if the air craftcarrying the bombs meets with some obstruction when landing or otherwise.

2 Other incidental objects are to simplify and facilitate the construction with a view -to eflicienc Y and econom According to my invention I employ. an

'arrangement wherein the striking mechanism comprises an operative part which is controlled by a fan or similar wind actuated device and is moved thereby into alinement with the detonating cap and with an actuating shaft permanently in alinement with y after the bomb has been discharged and on its way toward the objective.

When the striker is brought into alinemen't with the cap and the actuating shaft, impact with the objective will bring about an explosion by driving the endway movable the cap only .shaft against the interposed striker. If the proper objective is missed it is desirable to provide means for exploding the bomb without impact so as to avoid damage on impact with some object notl intended. To this end therefore a spring mounting for the endway -movable shaft may be furnished, which is released by the fan or wind actuated device, continuing to act under the influence of the air current caused by the fall of the bomb, afterthe detonating cap has been exposed t-o the action of the'striker as above explained. wWhen the spring mounting is released, the striker will be impelled by the endwa-y movable shaft to strike the cap and vthe bomb will be exploded. The timing of be adjusted by delaying the explosion may or less in thethe release of the spring more manner hereinafter explained.

In the accompanying drawings I have Specification of Letters Iatent.

Patented June 5, 1917.

Application led December 30, 1916. Serial No. 139,943.

shown the firing` mechanism of a bomb embodying my present improvements.

Fig.- 1 yis a 'vertical section showing the striker in alinement with the detonator cap. Fig. is a vertical section of a portion of the same mechanism showing the parts in f the position of safety.v

cover the fan or propeller blade being removed.

Referring to Fig. l, a is the shell of the bomb containing the usual explosive. b is a tube within the shell a containing detonating material and c a tube within the tube b containing igniting material and a detonating cap l the latter being situated at the bottom of the tube c and retained .therein by the metal cap e furnish-ed with a small central hole f. The tubes b and c are supported on the base plate g which is screwed into the bottom ofthe shell a. The plate g also supports the cover h which is unscrewed and removed when the bomb is to l be used. Screwed into the underside of the plate g is a plate z' having a hole y' immediately beneath the cap e for the passage of the firing pin c. The pin 7c is carried in a hole in a disk Z mounted on a center m fixed in the plate z' on the side of the hole The pin 7c moves freely in its hole X and is retained4 from falling out by the stop n (see Figs. 2 and 3) On the periphery of the disk Z is a ring of teeth 0 meshing with the pinion p mounted to turn on the stud g fixed in the underside of the plate z'. o is a. toothed wheel mounted to turn with the pinion ;0 on the same stud g. r is an inverted dome screwed to a flange on the under side of the pla-tez' which dome provides a central bearing for the propeller or fan shaft 15 and its sleeve s. On the summit of the propeller shaft t is a pinion u whichis in line with the hole j and engages the toothed wheel lv.

x disk Z has been rotated suiliciently to bringl The pinion u is of a sizeto enter the socket of the, strikerk, when the shaft t and its sleeve 'S are made yto slide longitudinally by ,a blow on the lower end but these are-normally held back by the light spring 'w sur- 'rounding the said sleeve a. w is a set screw ,i for keeping the shaft and sleeve s within l the bearing Vwithout preventing a limited endway movement therein. y is a propeller or fan ixed'on the shaft t. y

'is brought opposite the orifice y'. When the parts are in'this position the cap .d cannot be struck. To prevent the disk Z working around accidentally the propeller y may be Wired to the dome 1" by means of the holes le a. When `the bomb is to beused the 'cover 71, is removed and the wiring just mentioned cut. On the bomb being launched the pro- ,.peller or fan y will be rotated by the air and will, through the train of gearing u, v, p, o, rotate the disk Z until the striker la is in alinement'with the cap Z as shown in Fig. 1 at whichpoint the rotation of the disk will be arrested by the stop fn. coming into contact with the pinion fu, (see Fig. 3). If the bomb fall on its objective when the 4parts are in this position the impact on the end of the propeller shaft will ldrive 'the striker into the detonatingcap and an ex- 4 plosion lwill take lace.

To'explode the omb without impact, particularly if the proper objective has been missed, I provide the arrangement shown in Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7. In this arrangement an outer sleeve 1 inclosing the sleeve s and propeller shaft t is employed and a firing spring 2 capable, when liberated, of advancing the propeller shaft and its inclosing sleeves with suliieient .force to detonate the cap ai. This spring 2 is normally held in' compression by a latch 3 overlying the upper edge of the sleeve 1. It will be observed that this latch 3- consists ofy a bar underlying the plate 4 andheld stationary at one end, which isnforked, by means of the adjustable vfixed pin 5,. The opposite end of the latch 3 has an internally threaded collar 6 working on a screw 7. This screw 7 which is mounted to turn in bearings on the plate 4 has keyed on it a worm wheel S'adaptedy' to be driven by a worm 9 which'iscarried on the stud shaft g which carries also'the pinion p and toothed wheel 0. In this arrangement the pinion p must be only frictionally tight 'on the' stud shaft g while the wheel 'v must be fast on it, so that when the naasas the firing pin 7c into alinement with the cap and has been stopped, the wheel fu must 'cont1nue to be driven by the propeller shaft and must continue to rotate the screw 7 by. means of the worm'gearjng 8, 9 before mentioned.

The result of this will be eventually to rock the bar 3 on its `fulcrum 5 until the said bar ceases to overlie the sleeve 1. Immediatelyl the bar' is clear of the sleeve 1 the spring 2 will act and drive the pinion u on the end of the shaft t against thel firing pin k and cause the latter to explode the detonator. The release of the spring l2 may be timed by adjusting the position of the fulcrum pin 5.

This may be readily effected by mounting the said pin 5 eccentrically on the end o'f the rotatable stud 10 (see Fig.'5)' which may be set` and fixed according to re,

quirement. v

Fig. 7 shows. an arrow on the bottom of the stud 10 which will indicate by the aid the striker relative to the shaft, initiated by' the fan, the arrangement bein such that when an endway movement is imparted to the shaft after the striker has been moved into position, the latter will be driven against the detonator substantially as f `de"V scribed.

2. In a bombof the kind specified, awind operated device, a. detonator, an endway movable shaft in permanent alinement with the detonator but vout of reach thereof, a striker capable of being interposed between the end of the said shaft and the detonator but normally out of alinement therewith, means for interposing ther striker by giving ita movement transverse to the shaft, means for impelling the shaft endwise against thev striker and time means for liberating the shaft impelling means substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my naine to this specilication in the presence of vtwo subscribing witnesses.

i THOMAS; ooorEn.

Witnesses:

ALFRED S. BISHOP, HENRY GEORGE NIoHoLLS. 

